[11/27/12 - 07:45 AM]BBC America Debuts New Original Travel-Adventure Series "Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan"As previously announced, the eight-episode series launches Tuesday, January 22 on the cable channel.

[via press release from BBC America]

BBC AMERICA DEBUTS NEW ORIGINAL TRAVEL-ADVENTURE SERIES "WILD THINGS WITH DOMINIC MONAGHAN"

Dominic Monaghan Travels to South America, Asia and Africa to find Elusive Creatures

New York - November 27, 2012 - BBC AMERICA takes a walk on the wild side as actor and wildlife enthusiast, Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings), brings his love of the slithering and crawling creatures of your worst nightmares to the network. Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan premieres Tuesday, January 22, 10:00pm ET. The eight episode hour long travel-adventure series follows Dominic as he explores the remote corners of the globe in search of some the most badass animals in the world. He'll educate the masses on their origins, their unique qualities and why we shouldn't be so quick to squash them on sight.

In each episode, Dominic takes the viewer on an intimate action-packed journey through some of the most exotic and fascinating places in the world. He'll backpack through the rainforests of Ecuador on the hunt for a few million flesh-slicing army ants; the caves of Venezuela in search of a giant venomous centipede rumored to snatch bats out of the air; the arid deserts of Namibia to face off with a deadly thick-tailed scorpion, and many more locales to get up close and personal with some of the most dangerous and elusive creatures known to man. Along the way, viewers will experience a heart-pumping, world-wide adventure as Dominic encounters vibrant locals, quirky experts, tasty cuisine and a host of creatures that inhabit the strange and wonderfully wild places on our planet.

"Shooting Wild Things for BBC AMERICA is a dream come true for me. I've journeyed to some of the most amazing places in the world in search of creatures I'm interested in, on holiday just for fun - and now I get to take an audience with me and educate them in the process," says Dominic Monaghan, executive producer and host. "The locals I've met, the food I've eaten and the places I've seen are just fascinating and I'm so excited to share this exhilarating visual experience with the audience."

Dominic's passion for wild things developed long before his acting career began. As a child, he worked alongside his father - a teacher and biologist - and learned the proper way to handle, care for and appreciate the creatures of the wild. Never losing his love for insects and reptiles, Dominic owns a small forest in India, and has worked with the animal rights group PETA. He'd often be found bug hunting while on location in Hawaii while filming Lost, and his California home is purposely "infested" with a growing menagerie of rare beasts including two giant spiders, a darkling beetle, a Scolopendra, a gecko, and dozens of mammoth hawk moths. Dominic hopes to dispel the myths we have about these creepy crawly creatures, and shed new light on their importance to earth's ecosystem.

Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan is a BBC AMERICA original production, produced by Cream Productions and Wildfire Television.

BBC AMERICA delivers US audiences high-quality, innovative and intelligent programming. Established in 1998, it has been the launch pad for talent embraced by American mainstream pop culture, including Ricky Gervais, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Norton, and successful programming formats including ground-breaking non-scripted television like Top Gear and top-rated science-fiction like Doctor Who. Owned by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, BBC AMERICA has attracted both critical acclaim and major awards including an Emmy(R), five Golden Globes(R) and ten Peabody Awards. The channel attracts one of cable's most affluent and educated audiences and is available on cable and satellite TV in more than 80 million homes. It broadcasts in both standard and high-definition in all markets, with content available On Demand across all major digital platforms. Online, www.bbcamerica.com is the place to go to dig deeper into pop culture with a British twist.